In order to prepare an excellent fragrance composition by blending aroma materials or blend such a fragrance composition with various products, various fixatives have been hitherto used for the purpose of allowing the fragrance composition and various products to keep diffusivity of desired fragrance and adjusting the fragrance properties and long-lasting property of aroma materials. Known fixatives include various compounds such as dipropylene glycol, triethyl citrate, benzyl benzoate, benzyl salicylate and diethyl phthalate. These compounds have heretofore been incorporated in fragrance compositions or various products. However, mere use of these fixatives is not sufficient for the adjustment of volatility and long-lasting property of aroma components and fragrance compositions. Some of these fixatives have a safety problem. Thus, studies have been made to obtain fixatives having an excellent diffusivity and long-lasting property of fragrance and causing no safety problem. As fixatives having these properties there have recently been proposed p-menthane-3,8-diol (Japanese Patent No. 3,045,562), 2-hydroxymethyl-cycloalkanol derivative (JP-A-5-295388), and specific biphenyl compounds (JP-A-7-62383). (The term “JP-A” as used herein means an “unexamined published Japanese patent application”.)
While these prior art references to the results of long-lasting property test on fragrance compositions made organoleptically on blotter, there is no reference to the fixing effect in products (e.g., a cosmetic, toiletry, bath composition, food and drink or pharmaceutical) provided with a fragrance composition containing the foregoing compound as a fixative. It has thus been desired to develop and provide a novel fixative for the purpose of further improving fixing effects in fragrance compositions, expanding the variation of fixatives with respect to fragrance compositions or further enhancing diffusivity and long-lasting property of fragrance in products comprising various fragrance compositions incorporated therein.
An object of the invention is to provide a method which can provide improved diffusivity and long-lasting property of fragrance as compared with a method using conventional known fixatives and which enhance diffusivity and long-lasting property of fragrance without causing any safety problem, an agent for the enhancement of diffusivity and long-lasting property of fragrance of an aroma component and/or fragrance composition to be used in the method, a fragrance composition having excellent diffusivity and long-lasting property of fragrance comprising the agent incorporated therein, and products such as a cosmetic, toiletry, bath composition, food and drink and pharmaceutical having excellent diffusivity and long-lasting property of fragrance comprising these ingredients.